The answer, of course, depends on which side of the Brawl of the Wild you happen to be standing.
If you're in Bozeman, the popular response would be fluffy bear rug. If you're in Missoula, it's probably a nice pair of mittens Š made from bobtailed kittens.
And a remarkable one at that.
Both Vince and Lori live in Missoula. Vince is a Cat. Lori is a Griz.
Vince started Gavin-Hanks Architectural Studio with partner Aaron Hanks 5 1/2 years ago, and has lived in Missoula since graduating from Montana State in 1989.
Lori, originally from Libby, is a commercial loan supervisor at First Security Bank. She's a diehard Grizzly who runs with one of the rougher, tougher group of fans in town. They've even been known to break out in the University of Montana fight song at the very scent of cat hair.
So how did this come to be? How did this Bobcat and this Grizzly get engaged, and who in the world let such a thing happen?
It all started with a blind date. Make that a semi-blind date.
Vince, 42, was divorced more than a year ago. Lori, also 42, lost her husband Tom to cancer in June 2006.
After his divorce, Vince began to mull the idea of returning to the social scene. He put out a few feelers and let friends know that if they had any single gal pals, he'd be up for meeting them.
“It was kind of like, ‘I'm 41, how do I meet people?' Vince said. “I'm an outgoing person, so I told my friends that if they knew someone, I was good for at least one date and I wouldn't embarrass them.”
Vince had been married for more than 17 years, but he and his ex-wife Sonia parted on friendly terms and there weren't any of the residual wounds that often follow a split.
“It meant a lot to me not to destroy that relationship,” Vince said. “You see adults behaving like kids too often. We both felt like, ‘Let's just move on,' and that helped me move on quicker.”
Lori, meanwhile, was also contemplating dating again.
“It had been a year since Tom passed away. Š I started thinking, ‘OK, I need to socialize and think about meeting someone.' ”
Enter Carl and Annette Rummel.
The Rummels were good friends of Tom and Lori, and before Tom passed away he had asked the couple to look after his wife of nearly 18 years and help her cope after his death.
“We went and saw Tom about a week before he died,” Carl said. “He told Annette, ‘Take care of Lori, take care of Lori. She's a good woman, so find her a good man.' That was pretty much the last time we saw Tom.”
The Rummels gladly honored Tom's dying wish. They would invite Lori to group functions, and did everything they could to boost her morale in the months after Tom died.
“Carl and Annette were kind of waiting for the word to see about hooking me up,” Lori said. “Tom was ill for about a year before he passed away. The blessing of that was that he wanted me to experience life again. It was something we talked about. It took me about a year to process everything (after Tom died). But it was a wonderful thing he did.”
Eventually, Lori gave the word. And the Rummels started looking.
The answer, it turned out, was only a couple feet away.
Carl Rummel is a Missoula accountant. One of his clients is Vince Gavin.
And Carl was one of the people Vince had confided in about his search for a lady friend.
“I really wasn't looking for anything serious or long-term,” Vince said. “I don't think when anyone gets married they think they're going to get divorced or that a loved one is going to pass away. All my buddies were telling me I should just get out there and date a bunch of women and enjoy life, and that's what I was going to do. Š You don't really think you're going to fall in love with somebody again.”
Carl told Vince at the 2007 UM homecoming parade that he knew someone who might be interested. She was single, she was Vince's age, and she, too, was considering dating. Carl said he would call Vince and give him her number.
Meanwhile, Vince - despite being a card-carrying Cat - enjoyed UM football and had been a season ticket holder on the east side of Washington-Grizzly Stadium for years.
At the next home game, Vince invited a friend, local contractor Paul O'Connell, to come along. O'Connell mentioned that he might know someone Vince would be interested in. O'Connell had met her at the bank, but couldn't remember her name. The reason she came to O'Connell's mind was that he thought she was single and she happened to be sitting right in front of them.
After the game, as the victorious Grizzly football team sang “Up With Montana,” Vince plucked up the courage and tapped the woman on the shoulder.
“What's your name?” he asked.
“Lori,” she said.
Three days later, Carl contacted Vince.
“So what's up? My phone hasn't been ringing,” Vince said. “Who's this person I'm supposed to meet?”
“Well, I've got her name for you,” Carl said.
“Her name is Lori.”
“I couldn't believe it,” Vince said.
“Did you say her name was Lori? She goes to Griz games?”
“Yeah.”
“Her husband had gray hair?”
“Yeah.”
“This was incredible. Out of 24,000 fans out there, that this could be the person Š literally right in front of me. Lori was right there.”
The same Lori, it turned out, who had been sitting directly in front of Vince for the past seven football seasons.
Vince and Lori had spoken briefly over the years, and a few times had bumped into each other at various functions involving his business, her bank or the American Cancer Society.
But it was never much more than a friendly hello.
At the 2006 Grizzly-Bobcat game, Tom's name and picture had been flashed on the stadium's Griz Vision, honoring Montana football fans who died during the year.
“I remembered seeing that, and knowing that he sat in our section, thinking, ‘Oh man,' ” Vince said. “But I really didn't know what he had passed away from.”
Lori did remember Vince, though. Vividly.
“It was the first season we had seats right in front of them,” she said. “Tom and I show up to the Griz-Cat game, and (Vince) is all decked out in Bobcat gear. I looked at him Š”
“And she says, ‘What the hell have you got on?' ” Vince finished.
It was her first introduction to her section mate, Vince Gavin, the closet Bobcat fan.
Despite their concern over Vince's attraction to blue and gold, Carl and Annette, both big Griz fans like Lori, set up a meeting at Jaker's Bar and Grill.
“It was Nov. 8, 2007,” Lori said.
The Rummels joined Vince and Lori at the restaurant to ease the greeting process. And it was a good thing.
“It was pretty awkward at first,” Carl said. “Eventually, I tore a sheet of paper in half and told them to write their phone numbers on each piece and give them to each other.”
And just to make sure this was the right Lori, Carl had her stand up and turn around so Vince could get a look at the back of her head - the usual view Vince had at football games.
It was her all right.
Despite the hesitant start, Vince and Lori agreed on a second meeting, and a third. Then it was the weekend of the Griz-Cat game - in Bozeman. Lori invited Vince to travel with her and the Rummels to a party in the Bitterroot to watch the Brawl on television.
Lori and Vince also agreed on a bet. If the Griz won, Vince would pay for a future dinner at a location of Lori's choosing. If the Cats won, Lori would pay and Vince would pick the restaurant.
On the way to the party, the Rummels and Lori tried to explain that Vince would probably be the only Cat in the room, and these weren't your average Grizzly fans.
Vince shrugged it off.
“I was thinking, ‘C'mon, it can't be that bad, we'll share the love.' ”
Vince walked into the house, and eventually headed downstairs. He met the homeowner, Gene Peterson, coming up.
“He was down in the basement, and he looked up and saw me with my MSU stuff on,” Vince said. “He starts shouting, ‘What the Š who brought this Bobcat?!' ”
“I said it was Carl,” Lori admitted with a grimace.
Vince managed to survive the ordeal. The fact that Montana pulled out a 41-20 victory probably helped.
“This older lady kept coming up and pinching my cheeks and saying, ‘Poor Bobcats,' ” Vince said. “It was kind of a rough afternoon. I really wanted the Cats to win, but I was also thinking, ‘If they do, I'm going to be walking home.' ”
Lori got to pick her restaurant, and Vince got his wallet ready for what Lori calls their first real date.
“Nov. 30, 2007,” she said. “It was our first official date, and things kind of blossomed from there.”
Vince had blossoms on his mind, too. On the way to pick Lori up for their evening out, Vince stopped and got some flowers.
He brought a massive bouquet to her door. Every flower was blue or gold.
From that first dinner together, it's been smooth sailing. Vince proposed, at Jaker's, on April 17 with Carl and Annette sitting at the table.
Both Vince and Lori say they are eagerly anticipating their first Griz-Cat game in Missoula. (It's Cat-Griz, if you ask Vince.)
Vince admits he cheers for Montana every week of the season except this one. And Lori admits she has taken a stand when the razzing of her future husband gets too strong.
“I think it's pretty cool that the alumni and the people in this state support their teams, but I also think it's important that it be good-natured,” Lori said.
“The fans in Missoula are really passionate, which I think is great,” Vince said. “And Washington-Grizzly is an incredible atmosphere.”
But this is the Brawl of the Wild, and neither one will back down from their convictions - or their annual bet.
“Oh, I want the Cats to win ... bad,” Vince said. “No doubt about it. We've got dinner reservations after the game, and I would love to be the only Bobcat at that table if the Griz go down.”
“I think he's going to be paying for my dinner again,” Lori said.
As for their wedding, that's scheduled for Feb. 28, 2009.
And then it's off to someplace warm to share a room for the first time as a married couple.
A Bobcat and a Grizzly in perfect harmony.
Well, almost.
Sportswriter John Smithers can be reached at 523-5257 or at jsmithers@missoulian.com
The winds, they will be a-blowin'
By KIM BRIGGEMAN of the Missoulian
Forecast for a Griz-Cat/Cat-Griz afternoon: sweltering.
Relatively speaking, of course. After all, it's late November in Montana.
Football game-goers Saturday in Washington-Grizzly Stadium can expect the thermometer to be in the mid- to high 30s when Montana and Montana State kick it off at 12:07 p.m. It should climb to 44 degrees by the fourth quarter. That's 7 degrees above the normal high for Nov. 22.
Oh, sure, winds will kick up to 10-15 mph as the game goes on, but they'll be blowing in from the west - not those arctic devils from Hellgate Canyon.
“There'll be a few passing snowshowers,” said Dan Zumfe, meteorologist for the National Weather Service in Missoula. “You might have a snow squall for 10 minutes - one of those types of days. But it looks more like just a blustery day.”
This one won't qualify, but there have been more than a few bad-weather Brawls of the Wild over the past 111 years.
A Daily Missoulian reporter at the very first one in 1897 watched the Varsity of Missoula rope the Agricultural College 18-6 on a field near the south end of the Higgins Avenue bridge.
He remarked: “A large audience stood in the snow and stamped their feet to keep them warm or sat upon the benches in the gallery, so to speak, and kept their feet moving, to keep them warm. The wise had on warm stockings, thick shoes and overshoes. They kept warm.”
The past two brawls in Missoula have been played under clear skies and somewhat chillier temperatures than those expected on Saturday.
Then there was 2002.
The winds howled out of Hellgate Canyon, sometimes gusting to 30 mph and spitting snow. They left quarterback Travis Lulay, coach Mike Kramer and the Bobcats basking in the glow of a 10-7 victory - their first against the Grizzlies since 1985.
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Fred Garvin wrote on Nov 22, 2008 8:18 PM: